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Christmas Derby 23rd December


Hellenic Hero
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6 minutes ago, Hellenic Hero said:

Fucking hell, victory are actually looking fantastic today. Not as confident as I was 20 minutes ago haha. Absolutely terrified about what George is going to do to our fullbacks 

They're vsing Brisbane....

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2 hours ago, Shahanga said:

Line up going to be very interesting for this one. I wonder what tricks Wazza will have up his sleeve?

For mine tards have too much wing pace to play Malik at RB. Atkinson must be in with a real chance, but other than that he could put Jako in the back 4 and do some of shuffle I guess.

At the other end I’m assuming that Ross can’t go from “out for the season” to “playing next Saturday” so some sort of shuffle required.  Not clear if Brucey will be available either.

All and all it’s looking like a quite different line up, so we’ll see Wazza does with it.

At least we won't have Muscat to pick up a red card, only LaRocca

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22 hours ago, n i k o said:

Potentially. But Mauk is far superior defensively.

Yes, but do we really need to play with so many defenders. If anything we proved that no matter how good we are defending somebody will screw things over. We need to start scoring and not rely on Ross only. Brattan can play deeper, provide the cover and occasionally move forward to increase the presence.

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So we have 2 major decisions to make positionally, then everything else will fall into place 

RB options are Malik, Schenkeveld, Atkinson, Pierias (I assume)

Striker options are Crowley, Budzinski, Arzani or a Fitzy/Mauk with a reshuffle

 

The more I think about it, I'm leaning towards Schenkeveld to play right back. I've been an advocate for not moving him, but Leroy George is their best player and Bart is best player to stop him. I also trust Jakobsen to take berisha, and leave Malik in midfield

As for striker I'm playing Crowley, as he is a striker and not a midfielder, give him a proper chance 

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My starting XI:

                                                                          Bouzanis

                                                    Atkinson Bart La Rocca Jamieson

                                                               Brattan Malik Jako

                                                        Fitzy     Budzinski (asumming McCormack is unavalible)     Mauk 

 

Bench: Galekovic Tongyik Kamau Arazni Kilkenny 

 

Edited by Forever City
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1 hour ago, neio said:

So we have 2 major decisions to make positionally, then everything else will fall into place 

RB options are Malik, Schenkeveld, Atkinson, Pierias (I assume)

Striker options are Crowley, Budzinski, Arzani or a Fitzy/Mauk with a reshuffle

 

The more I think about it, I'm leaning towards Schenkeveld to play right back. I've been an advocate for not moving him, but Leroy George is their best player and Bart is best player to stop him. I also trust Jakobsen to take berisha, and leave Malik in midfield

As for striker I'm playing Crowley, as he is a striker and not a midfielder, give him a proper chance 

Love the reason for Bart at RB 

is it a problem to have two left footed CBs in laroccA and Jako?

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2 minutes ago, japiedog said:

do we ever ask this question if there are 2 right footed CB's ?

 

No.

It's really a mute point. Ideally 1 of each are preferred but really playing centrally it doesn't matter heaps. At fullback where you have the sideline it's preferred, as the quick smacks up the line are generally more accurate with the preferred foot and the natural swing keeps the ball in.

Alternatively from my general observations left footed players are more prone to have bigger differences in either ability with either foot, that is they a more noticeably left footed than a right footer being more right footed. So playing a left footer at rb or vice versa is rare but has been done effectively. 

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2 hours ago, Jovan said:

No.

It's really a mute point. Ideally 1 of each are preferred but really playing centrally it doesn't matter heaps. At fullback where you have the sideline it's preferred, as the quick smacks up the line are generally more accurate with the preferred foot and the natural swing keeps the ball in.

Alternatively from my general observations left footed players are more prone to have bigger differences in either ability with either foot, that is they a more noticeably left footed than a right footer being more right footed. So playing a left footer at rb or vice versa is rare but has been done effectively. 

In my experience left footed players are not only better, they are more intelligent and make better posts on football forums.

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I think it's safe to assume budzinski and Malik will start up front and at rb respectively. I'm not saying I agree but judging on Joyce's previous choices I think it's what we'll see. 

Malik for me assuming he doesn't get himself sent off early will be a better choice at RB. He showed he can play there the other week and to be honest I don't believe Atkinson will be up to the task of containing George. He deserves minutes though that's for sure, just not at RB

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The striker question is an interesting one.

If you look at it cynically though the big loss with no Ross are set pieces. The guy is world class there but In general play his contribution wasn’t incredible.

Decent runs his team mates didn’t recognise, some nice flicks and OK pressing. I reckon even with our limited options we can replace that side of it.

The thing with Cahill though is he was also world class at set pieces (corners in his case).  

What does it all mean? Scoring goals likely to prove difficult until we get a top striker back (or rustle up a short term injury replacement- seemingly unlikely). 

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8 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

The striker question is an interesting one.

If you look at it cynically though the big loss with no Ross are set pieces. The guy is world class there but In general play his contribution wasn’t incredible.

Decent runs his team mates didn’t recognise, some nice flicks and OK pressing. I reckon even with our limited options we can replace that side of it.

The thing with Cahill though is he was also world class at set pieces (corners in his case).  

What does it all mean? Scoring goals likely to prove difficult until we get a top striker back (or rustle up a short term injury replacement- seemingly unlikely). 

Maybe, maybe not. You could look at it in the inverse and say whilst we might not get the free kicks anymore, any improvement (and lets be honest you couldnt go down in finishing quality based on the output of 10 games so far) on finishing open play will result in replacing those. Plus you likely get the added speed of whoever replaces him to potentially create even more open play ops.

Edited by bt50
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Melbourne City FC Squad: 1.Dean Bouzanis, 3. Scott Jamieson, 5. Bart Schenkeveld, 6.Osama Malik, 7. Nick Fitzgerald, 8. Neil Kilkenny, 12. Braedyn Crowley, 13. Stefan Mauk, 14.Daniel Arzani, 18. Eugene Galekovic, 21.Ruon Tongyik, 22. Michael Jakobsen, 25. Iacopo La Rocca, 26. Luke Brattan, 27. Marcin Budzinski, 34.Connor Metcalfe, 37.Nathaniel Atkinson, 44. Ross McCormack

Ins: 8.Neil Kilkenny (promoted), 34. Connor Metcalfe (promoted)

Outs: 2.Manny Muscat (suspended - 2 weeks)

Unavailable: 23. Bruno Fornaroli (ankle)

One man who won’t be a part of the squad is Manny Muscat as he serves a two-match suspension for his dismissal in last Friday’s loss to Sydney FC. Muscat’s offence will see him miss the Derby and the New Years Day clash with Western Sydney.

Osama Malik – who played a similar role during Muscat’s absence against the Central Coast – may fill the position left vacant by the full back as Joyce looks to re-shuffle his cards coming into the contest.

Ross McCormack remains in the squad, despite sustaining a knee injury early in last week’s contest. Medical staff will closely monitor his condition right up until kick-off.

Neil Kilkenny and Connor Metcalfe also come into the mix in the extended squad that will be reduced by two 90 minutes before kick-off.

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